The area is dark, empty, hollow; it's as if nothing had ever existed there, nor ever would. Luna couldn't understand what she was doing wrong, this was something she had done time and time again with no error; so why wasn't it working now. She wandered through the empty dream field, hoping to find something, anything. Lo and behold though, she was met with more darkness. The night princess let out an annoyed sigh and pulled herself out of her dream stride.

Once she was back in the real world she eyed the interior of her bedroom shortly before placing her head in her hands, rubbing her temples with her finger tips. This was ridiculous. She wanted to know what it was that made Ryan her perfect mate; what is it that made them so similar?

They both got along fairly well, they had some of the same interests, and the two loved to wrestle about and play games together. There was never a point where they were put in some sort of awkward positioning or uncomfortable situation. She wasn't complaining that things were working out, she just wanted to know why.

Her answers would soon come from a very unnerving source, one she could sense immediately upon its entry to her private chambers. She growled slightly to herself, looking towards a rather dark corner in her room. "I know you are here, Discord. Reveal yourself."

Discord grumbled to himself before stepping out of the shadows. He was a rather tall man with grey skin. His eyes were yellow with red pupils, his hair, as well as a well-trim goatee, were silver in color. He wore an old brown suit that fitted his lengthy form perfectly, he had two large but completely unmatched horns. Finally, on his back were two wings; One was feathered, while the other was extremely bat-like. "I really hate that you and your sister can sense my presence, it takes all the fun out of being nosy."

"I'm sure it does." She said with a scowl. This wan't anything new for him, he was constantly listening in and trying to stay on top of whatever was going on. Whether this was just out of curiosity, or for a more insidious agenda, was completely unknown to all others but him.

"Oh, come on, Lulu," Discord suddenly appeared beside her, levitating several inches off of the ground. "Don't be that way. I thought that we were friends. Do you not want to be friends?"

She could tell by his tone and that shit-eating smirk on his face that he was saying all of this in mock sadness. The night princess just wanted him to stop with his games and be more direct for once. His games were fun to him, but a living hell to anything else.

"I even brought you a present from the Badlands." With a snap of his fingers a small jar full or red sand appeared in his hand. He examined the jar with a smile before holding it out to Luna. "Here you are."

Luna grabbed the jar and went over it. There was nothing out of place about it, no special magical properties, there wasn't even an engraving on the jar. It was, in all of its glory, just a hunk of glass full of sand. Nothing more, nothing less. "What's your angle, Discord?"

Discord eyed Luna in mock surprise. "Me? Have an angle?"

Luna stared at the chaos bringing abomination with a stern look plastered across her face.

"You're telling me that, I, your good friend, Discord; Cannot simply give you a gift out of the kindness of my heart?" he asked with a multitude of dramatic poses to emphasize his 'pain'.

She raised a brow at him, causing the god to grumble before swiping the jar from Luna's hand with a playfully angered expression on his face.

"Fine, be that way." He said, letting himself lower to the ground. "I'll just give it to Ryan. He loves the desert, so maybe he will appreciate it more." With that being said, Discord walked toward the door, secretly grinning to himself.

Luna was about to shrug his words off, but then it hit her. Discord had been in the Badlands for several weeks now, how did he know that Ryan liked deserts, let alone that he even existed. How did this monster know something about the human that Luna didn't? "Wait!" She called out, causing the god to stop in his tracks.

Discord turned around, still smiling. His little plan was starting to come together. "Yes, oh great Princess of the Night? How may I serve you?" He asked with a kneel.

She rolled her eyes at Discord's behavior and waited for him to go back to his normal posture before continuing. "How do you know about Ryan?"

"Well, Princess. I live here too you know, and it would be rude for me to not know every single guest that enters the castle and greet them properly, would it not?"

Luna could tell that he was planning something, this is how it always starts, but he wouldn't allow her to jump right into the thick of things. She would have to play his little game and ease into it. "So you have spoken with him?"

He nodded and took a seat in a chair that seemed to appear out of nowhere. "I most certainly did. You see, when I came back I felt an unfamiliar presence wandering the halls and just so happened to bump into him. We talked over a few cups of coffee before he decided to retire for the night."

Ryan and Discord sat down together, talked, drank coffee, and no fights broke out? Nopony ran away screaming? No great disaster was about to take place? What is this world coming to??? "I take it the two of you got along rather well."

"Most definitely." Suddenly a pillow that had been sized and stitched to look like Ryan appeared in Discord's arms. As it did, he gave it a powerful hug. "We're practically best friends now. Who knows, maybe one day he'll even let me into his family."

The pillow was creepy, plain and simple. Why would he create something like that? Was this just to mess with her, or was it simply due to his weird personality.

"Even better than that." He continued, throwing the pillow onto Luna's bed, "He does not fear me, or my powers. In fact, he adores them. Even let me test a few spells on him. Oh, it was so much fun!"

Luna really hoped that whatever bond Ryan was forming with Discord would not go much further than what it is now. She would really rather he didn't end up getting caught up in one of the chaos god's schemes, thus getting him into trouble and likely banished.

"It was rather upsetting that he had to go to bed, but I knew a way around that." He made sure to keep his eyes on Luna when he spoke the last part, wanting to see her reaction.

"Excuse me?" What did he mean by 'I knew a way around that'? What was he planning, better yet, what was he doing?

"Well, since he and I became such good friends in a short time, I didn't think he would mind too much if I, you know...Went inside of his mind." Discord knew she was having trouble getting into Ryan's subconscious mind. He was rather surprised at the difficulty it posed to him as well. Not many have mental barriers that strong.

Luna stood in place, completely awestruck that Discord had actually managed to get into Ryan's mind. This had to be some sort of trick, there was no way in Tartarus that he actually managed to do it. "You're bluffing." She said with crossed arms. "I couldn't even get into his mind, so there is no way you could."

"Well, I'll admit it was difficult at first, but then I learned the secret." This time he wasn't lying. There was a way into the human's mind, but it required something very different than just simply tearing down walls

"Very well; if you think you have it figured out, then prove it. Show me." Luna demanded, only for her words to be met by one of Discord's hands reaching out to her.

She was hesitant at first, but took Discord's hand, being careful not to be cut by his jagged fingernails. Once her hand met his they were in the same dark area that she had been in during her first attempt to get into Ryan's mind. "Okay, we're here. Now what?"

Discord made several clicking sounds with his mouth while nodding. "Oh sweet, naive, stupid Luna. Do you really expect me to give you all of the answers. That would be boring. I am here to aid you, not guide you." He looked down to the jar of sand still in one of his hands and tossed it to her. "Here, take this. Consider it a re-gift."

She watched as he crossed his arms while the two floated in the empty space, holding the jar in her hands. The night princess just wasn't sure what to do, and why he was so insistent on her having a jar full of sand he found in a desert...Wait a minute.

"Fine, be that way." He said, letting himself lower to the ground. "I'll just give it to Ryan. He loves the desert, so maybe he will appreciate it more."

Luna stared down at the jar before opening the lid. The sand within started to stir from an unknown force and soon started spinning around, forming into a large spiral. Before long, the jar exploded and the entire space became full of rapid winds that blew copious amounts of sand every which direction.

Luna had to cover her face to keep the annoying little particles from entering her eyes, but suddenly the wind died down, she could no longer feel sand hitting her body; more importantly, she could feel solid ground beneath her hooves. She opened her eyes and uncovered her face to find herself standing on top a large rocky mountain in the middle of a desert.

Her eyes scanned the whole area, taking in every detail. But it was dark, luckily there was a full moon above her head, giving her just enough light to see everything in her general area. "What happened?"

Discord appeared by her side, levitating at an angle that allowed him to be in a laying down position. "It seems our friend here has a very adaptive mind. It keeps itself as a blank canvas, finds something to latch on to, then adjusts itself accordingly. Example; I know he is not a fan of parties, but get him in one and after a few minutes he'll be a party animal."

"How do you know all of this about him?" She found it weird that Discord had only just met Ryan, but already knew so much about him. They shouldn't have had the time to talk about so many different subjects and just browsing his mind wouldn't give out detailed information.

"When I came here, I knew just being here would limit my knowledge, so I pushed the boundaries a bit and found where his memories were stored."

"You went through his memories?" This slightly irked Luna. Not only was it rude to just barge into somepony else's memories, it was a complete abuse of power.

"Only the ones that were open. Memories are like doors, some of them are practically open, while others are locked. For some reason, a majority of his are locked, sealed, chained, and then welded shut."

Luna was starting to look beyond the point of just crossing boundaries now. If somepony was trying this hard to block out memories, then something horrible must have happened to them. That, or he's hiding something. "I see. Can you take me to where his memories are stored?"

"Sadly, I cannot. This place is simply too hectic for even I to navigate through it." It was true, with the quickly adapting landscape around them, Ryan's mind would soon find a way to seal them out completely. "But, I might know someone who can help us."

Discord pointed to a set of mountains in the distance. Luna had to squint her eyes to see what he was trying to show her. Her eyes adjusted and she saw a bipedal figure sprinting across the top of the mountains and expertly leaping from boulder to boulder as they entered its range. The figure suddenly stopped moving and Luna became overpowered by this nagging feeling that something was watching her.

In the blink of an eye both Discord and Luna were standing directly in front of the figure. It was nearly eye-level with Luna, just staring at her. She quickly started to make out its features; Black shoes, dark blue jeans, black shirt, Ryan's face-Wait a minute...

The figure rose its arms and suddenly the moon burst into flames, immediately bringing light to the dark land. Luna had to rub her eyes as they were assaulted by the sudden brightness, but at least now she would be able to see properly. She opened her eyes and looked back at the figure. It was Ryan!

"So are you gonna hug me or am I just gonna keep standing here with my thumb up my ass."

Discord teleported over to Ryan wearing a pair of sunglasses and swimming suit. He threw an arm around the human as if they had known each other for years.

Luna was about to happily oblige, but stopped herself. This wasn't Ryan. It looked like him, but it didn't completely sound like him. The vocal patters seemed to echo a lot, telling her that this was some weird thought in his head. "You're not Ryan, are you?"

Discord and Ryan frowned. Discord, because he was hoping it would take her much longer to figure everything out. Ryan, because she was kind of right. He wasn't Ryan, not completely. "Yes and no." Ryan simply said. "I'm Ryan's thought process, the impulses he gives in to, the little voice in his head that'll tell him what he should and should not do. So; No, I'm not Ryan. I'm kind of just the guy who gives him advice and feedback."

"Ryan has a very independent mind-set." Discord said, stretching one arm over to her and pulling her closer to the group. "Which usually means that he should have a one-track mind. However, certain things have transpired in his life which made him more open. It created our little friend here."

Ryan waved at Luna with a childish smile on his face. "So, onto the matter at hand. Something told me I was needed and I answered. What do you fuckers need?"

Discord nudged Luna, it was her idea after all. She cleared her throat before speaking. "I wish to see how Ryan is handling his memories."

Ryan seemed a bit uncomfortable with this. She could tell because of how his happy expression faltered slightly. His left eye even twitched slightly. "I'm sorry sweetheart, but if you want to go there, you better have a damn good reason."

Why was he being so defensive? Was this part of Ryan's brain the reason he was hiding things? "I wish to know why the portal chose him as my perfect match. It can't just simply be because we get along, the portal goes into your very soul and searches for someone thats soul resembles theirs. So it has to be more th-"

"Than just a simple liking. I know; I know what it is, I know why it happened, and I know the source personally. Can't say I like it though." Ryan had heard the guards talking about Luna behind her back, whispers of who she might truly be beneath the surface.

"Look," Ryan continued, now wearing a stern look on his face. "I know you're gonna be persistent and I know that the longer I make you wait, the worse your curiosity will get and that'll just make my job harder. So how about we cut straight through the bullshit?"

Discord and Luna glanced at each other. Discord was still wearing a grin on his face. She could swear that he knew more than he was letting on. She gave him a suspicious glare before answering for both of them. "Agreed"

She turned to face Ryan, but when she did the environment around them was completely different. They were in a very old fashioned looking, candle lit hallway that seemed to go on for miles with doors after doors, after doors going down both sides. Most of these doors were boarded over and even had chains going across them, complete with a padlock in the center.

She stared in awe at the hallway, wondering what would be behind each door. Her question was soon answered by Ryan. "Welcome to the hall of memories."

Ryan turned and looked down the hallway. The group was suddenly levitating just above the carpeted floor and started flying at what seemed to be a million miles a second. "Each door holds a memory of a different time, a different event, each and every thought and action he has ever had; Everything is in this hallway.

Discord couldn't seem less amused, he had already been through here and found little to address, but he was curious as to what was behind the doors as was Luna. "Why are so many of these doors blocked off?" The night princess inquired.

Ryan looked back at the princess, still looking very uncomfortable. "To protect him and everyone he's around."

"What do you mean?" As she asked this the group came to a grinding halt.

"I mean what I fucking said!" Ryan yelled, suddenly being filled with anger. "Damn near every door here has something fucked up in it, something that should have fucked him up. So I sit here and work my fucking ass off to make sure that he doesn't have to remember the shit!"

Luna had taken a step back when Ryan started yelling. If he was reacting like this then maybe she should just forget about going through his memories. If they were enough to make his mind react like this just by being asked a simple question, then perhaps she doesn't want to see them.

Ryan closed his eyes and took a breath, letting himself calm down. "I'm sorry for my little bipolar outburst. It's just-I work so hard to make sure that he doesn't turn into that fucking thing again and its...It's a lot on me."

Discord levitated over to Ryan, now dressed in his normal attire, and patted his shoulder. "There, there, child. We are here for you if you need us." He said, doing his best to keep playing the 'good friend' card with Ryan.

The god held out a hand in front of Ryan and a glass of carbonated brown liquid appeared. Ryan happily took the glass and sipped from it, letting the rest of his nerves settle.

Luna carefully approached Ryan and slowly pulled him into a loving embrace. She understood how hard it was to battle your own mind and fight to forget all of the bad you had done.

Ryan was surprised at first, but was more than happy to wrap his arms around her and hold her close. It's not often that he receives actual hugs. He could usually only do things like this by reliving the actual Ryan's memories. But this, this was much more enjoyable.

A strange sensation came over Luna as they held each other. It was like she had just walked the home of someone who she knew accepted her. She felt welcomed to be here.

The group started flying rapidly once again and soon came to the end of the hallway where there was a single iron door with locks of all kinds holding it shut. They landed softly and Ryan approached the door, placing one of his hands against it. The locks suddenly clicked open, metal bars were pulled out of their latches, chains fell to the ground, and the metal door creaked open; Revealing a dark padded hallway.

Luna didn't know what to expect and looked to Ryan questioningly as he walked away from the door. "What is it that I'm going to find in here?"

Discord placed a hand on either of Luna's shoulders, leaning so his face was just beside hers as he stared into the new hallway. "In this room, dear princess, is the sole reason that you and Ryan are seen as perfect mates." He explained, "You, just like him, have something living inside of you, something dark. A monster to both you and anypony around you."

She felt her own eyes widen. Was that truly the reason that they were matched; because they both had something sick and twisted living inside of them just trying to get out. "So, you mean that-"

"In this room is the part of him that is much like your Nightmare Moon."

She didn't tell him about that. She had referenced Nightmare Moon once or twice while talking about all of the bad things she had done, but she had never actually said it. There was no detail about the events that transpired, she never even said the name. "How did you-"

"The royal guards have big mouths and I am constantly listening in. Ryan knows all about Nightmare Moon."

Luna was shocked and thoughts of all kind started running through her head. How Ryan might feel about her past, about Nightmare Moon. Would he still want to be around her? Or would he completely avoid her? She had to know. "How does he feel about it?" What she heard in reply surprised her.

"Frankly, he couldn't give less of a fuck. To be honest, it makes him feel closer to you." He watched as Luna's features started to lighten up. "People in our world are violent, but he never knew anyone else with a problem like his until you came along." Ryan took a breath and nudged his head in the direction of the door. "Well, you wanted to see it. It's right in there."

She turned her attention back to the open door and took a deep breath before walking in, alone.

With his part out of the way, Discord decided that it was probably about time he had left. He already knew what was in there and didn't see too much of a point in going back. Besides, that thing was very rude to him last time. "Well, I guess I'll be off. Ta-ta." He said with a wave and vanished before anyone else could get a word in.

Luna took a few more steps into the hallway. Her hooves would sink into the odd flooring, feeling the soft pillow texture beneath her with every step. She jumped as the iron door behind her slammed shut and the locks all clicked back into place. Now she was alone and stuck in here. Terrific.

There was a single light at the end of the hallway that hung down from the ceiling in what appeared to be some sort of room. She cautiously made her way over to the room, the rattling of chains in the distance could be heard.

The sound picked up as a figure entered her vision from the far side of the room. After quickly analyzing the room, as well as the figure, she ceased any movement and stood her ground. The figure lowered itself before leaping at Luna. However, the night princess was just out of his reach. The chains let out a sound that indicated that they had reached their limit. This caused the figure to jerk backward and fall to the soft ground, just below the light.

Just like the last one; he looked completely identical to Ryan, but you could easily tell that there was something wrong with this one. She wasn't sure what truly gave it away; was it the bloodshot eyes, perhaps the dark rings around those eyes? Or maybe it was because he was dressed in what looked like white pajama pants and a straight jacket covered in blood and wrapped in thick metal chains that bound him to some solid structure behind him.

Better yet, it was probably all the the above.

She watched as he pulled himself up into a sitting position and glared at her. His mouth was shut and his teeth were bared, but his eyes were sending hundreds of death threats every second they looked at her. This made her extremely uncomfortable.

Just as Luna was about to speak to Ryan, he shot back to his feet, pulling against the chains with all his might in hopes that he might get to her. "Come on! Come here so I can pull your spine out of your ass! I'll kill you, you hear me!? I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

Luna didn't know what to do, he was in a frenzy and, from the looks of it, he wasn't going to calm down. As he struggled against the chains and howled like a mad-man Luna ran through every possible action she could take.

Happiness is finding someone who's insanity matches yours...

Suddenly an idea was hatched.

Two plus two is fish!

She charged her magic and a light blue hue suddenly enveloped her horn.

Show him that he's not alone...

There was a bright flash and now, being projected from Luna's horn, there was a tall black mare with a flowing blue mane and tail wearing a rather skimpy set of armor standing right in front of her.

The maniac stopped struggling against his restraints and stared at the mare, taking in every wonderfully placed curve of her body. He couldn't help but just stand there, not making a single sound.

Nightmare opened her eyes, revealing the teal colored orbs beneath their lids and scanned the room. It had been a while since she had seen much of anything and soon enough she found her eyes resting on the psychotic human before her.

She didn't know why, but she felt something about him, something strong, something that she liked. The darker half of the night princess made her way over to the restrained human, stopping just inches from his reach. "Now just who might you be?" She asked, reaching a hand out and stroking the side of his face.

It took him a moment to answer; the feeling of her hand caressing him sent shivers down his spine and made responding slightly difficult. "Ryan; My name is Ryan." He said calmly. What was with this mare, why did he feel so comfortable with her? He didn't care, he was enjoying this new feeling. He didn't want it to end.

Luna was actually shocked at how well that had worked. The two darker halves of both parties were actually enjoying each others company. She could feel a powerful bond forming between the two.

As she admired her work a sudden obnoxious beeping noise filled her ears. She covered them and closed her eyes, the noise becoming more than just annoying. When she opened her eyes to look for the source she found herself in her room, laying on her bed.

Turning her head to the side she found the source of the noise. Her alarm clock was going off, telling her that it was time to awake and lower the moon. Letting out a rather unpleasant sigh she raised her fist and slammed it down on the mechanism, silencing it until tomorrow.

Luna rose from her bed and stretched her limbs before exiting her room to find her older sister groggily standing in the hallway and waiting for her. Their bodies were clearly demanding that the two go back to bed, but they had a job to do. With a bit of magic the moon was lowered and the sun was raised.

With that taken care of, the sisters went their separate ways to prepare themselves for the rest of the day. Just as Luna was about to enter her room though, she was grabbed by something hiding behind her door. Had the sun not shined enough light to make out who her assailant was at the last second, she would have cast them into Oblivion.

As Ryan pulled Luna into his arms he placed a firm kiss on her lips, earning him a small but adorable squeak from the night princess.

When Ryan broke the kiss Luna stared up at him; she wasn't expecting him to just pop up out of no where and perform such an affectionate act out of the blue. "Well, somepony is feeling rather lovey-dovey today." she teased the human.

"Bite me." He replied jokingly, "I had a good night and I'm feeling pretty damn good myself."

Especially around her...I wonder why that is.

Ryan ignored his weird, but rather sarcastic sounding, thought and focused on the beautiful mare in front of him. He wasn't sure why, but for some reason he felt so much more comfortable around her. It was like part of him craved her and it was making him hungry for her attention.

Luna found it hard to resist staring up at the human longingly. She placed her hands behind his head and pulled him into another kiss. As they stood there with their lips embracing each other, the two could feel some strange sensation welling up inside of them. Something that told them that everything was alright, that this moment right here was perfect.